


it's the cat's house, we just live here

by seventhstar



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, POV Otabek Altin, yoi remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-07-01 03:50:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15766014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seventhstar/pseuds/seventhstar
Summary: The story of how Potya grudgingly accepted Otabek, from the point of view of one cat-illiterate Otabek Altin.





	it's the cat's house, we just live here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [onotherflights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/onotherflights/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Home is where the cat is](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11664441) by [onotherflights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/onotherflights/pseuds/onotherflights). 



Otabek is worried about meeting the cat.

Otabek wasn’t worried about meeting Yuri’s coach, Yakov Feltsman, or his choreographer, Lilia Baranovskaya, even though they both have fearsome reputations. He’s a skater; he knows how to be polite. He isn’t worried about meeting Yuri’s grandfather, either. From everything Yuri’s said, Nikolai Plistesky is a sensible man.

But Potya is a cat, and Otabek is not good with cats—or rather, Otabek has no idea if he is good with cats. He’s never had a pet. He doesn’t even have a strong opinion on cats versus dogs, which had scandalized Yuri the first time he’d heard Otabek say so.

“You’re a cat person now,” he’d said. “Okay?”

“Okay,” Otabek had said.

If Potya doesn’t like Otabek, at best Otabek will have to spend the weekend at Yuri’s place in some discomfort. At worst, Yuri will break up with him immediately. The latter isn’t likely, but Otabek has to consider all the possibilities beforehand, so that he can present a cool face when they actually arrive.

Which they have. The cab is pulling up at the curb. Yuri throws him a look, like he expects judgment for the size and condition of his grandfather’s building. But Otabek only nods in response; his family isn’t rich, either, and he expects that as long as he and Yuri are together, it will be fine.

He follows Yuri to the door. As soon as the door opens, Yuri throws his suitcase to the side and flings himself into the apartment screaming his cat’s name.

“…right.” Otabek sets his bag against the wall, then picks up Yuri’s as well.

Yuri comes back with an armful of purring cat. _Cute_ , Otabek thinks, and is surprised to find he means it—for both Potya and for Yuri, who is cradling the cat like she’s a baby.

“Nice to meet you, Potya,” Otabek says. He doubts any cat of Yuri’s will respond well to baby talk. “I’m Otabek.”

The cat looks him. And then she rolls over to hide her face in Yuri’s shirt.

“Guess we have to break up then. Potya has spoken.”

Yuri’s smiling while he says it, so Otabek knows he doesn’t mean it, but it’s too late: Otabek’s made his decision.

He is going to woo that cat.

* * *

 

Potya does not take kindly to Otabek sleeping in Yuri’s bed.

“You’re in her spot,” Yuri explains as he scrolls through Instagram. “Those fangirls are tagging me again, yech.”

Otabek endures two days of having his toes licked before he starts wearing socks to bed. Potya eyes him unnervingly as he lies there, but after a few days, she settles into sleeping atop both his and Yuri’s feet.

Of course, this means Otabek has to lie pretty close to Yuri at all times. Otabek is fine with this.

* * *

 

It turns out that there are literally hundreds of different cat toys.

There are feathers, fake mice, stuffed animals, laser pointers, a beaver that can be filled with catnip, tiny robots a cat can chase, cat playgrounds, cat palaces. The number of choices is overwhelming, and Otabek tries them all, but Potya still leaves a room if Otabek is in it. He has to make a stand.

He tries the feather.

“Mrw,” Potya says, more disdainfully than Otabek thought an animal could be.

The laser point makes her hiss at him.

The cat palace takes two hours to assemble, Yuri hammers his thumb on accident, and when it’s finally built, Potya circles it, sniffing…and then leaves.

“Your cat is spoiled.”

“How dare you,” Yuri replies. “Yeah, I know.”

There’s a loud meowing from the kitchen. He and Yuri exchange looks.

They find Potya happily playing in the box the cat palace came in. She even deigns to let Otabek pet her, just once.

 _Success,_ Otabek thinks, as Yuri coos and starts recording Potya’s playing. He snaps a picture of Yuri smiling.

* * *

 

“You only get the food if you pretend to like me.”

“Meow.”

“We have a deal?”

“Meow.”

“Good.”

When Yuri asks him why he gave Potya an extra serving of food, Otabek assures him it was an accident. Yuri looks skeptical; Otabek distracts him with take out.

* * *

 

Something is purring on his face.

“Potya,” Otabek says, or tries to; his mouth is immediately filled with fur. The cat is sitting on him, like his face is a pillow (Otabek’s face is many things but ‘soft’ is not one of them) and not moving. “Mmph.”

“She must like you,” Yuri says, beside him and doing nothing to help. “She doesn’t sit on people she doesn’t like.”

Otabek gives him a thumbs up and resigns himself to a Pyrrhic victory.


End file.
